Bulb Panicgrass
Zuloagaea bulbosa

Family: Poaceae

Tufted perennial grass with bulbous cormlike swellings at the base, usually about 3-4’ tall but can get taller. Plants are deciduous and go dormant in winter. Cut back in February.

Full to filtered sun, best with regular irrigation. Fully cold hardy in our region.

Granivorous birds love the seeds.

Seeds are winnowed, ground, and made into flour, which was used for bread and to thicken gravy. Of all our native grasses, this is one of the most promising as a future arid land crop, producing the largest seeds which are not unlike millet.

The genus name, Zuloagaea honors Fernando Omar Zuloaga, an Argentinian botanist and professor of phytogeography. The species name, bulbosum, means bearing a bulb, referring to the cormlike bases of the stems. The genus, Zuloagaea is monotypic, this is the only species in the genus. This species was formerly known as Panicum bulbosum.

Found on moist slopes, along gravely river banks, in canyons and along roads, from 4,000-8,000 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Utah, south through Mexico and into Central America.

Photo by Cecelia Alexander, iNaturalist
Zuloagaea bulbolsa on SEINET